PSALM 11:1,3,4,7 In the Lordput I my trust How say ye to my soul? If the foundations be destroyed What can the righteous do? The Lord is in his holy temple The Lord's throne is in heaven His eyes behold the children of men For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness His countenance doth behold the upright

In our running and rushing around Amid all dissonant distracting sound Amid all the worldly quicksand ground Constantly tempting and dragging us down We would draw nearer to thee, Oh Lord We would draw nearer to thee

All our youth appears misused and spent We wonder where all the good times went As the winter of our life approaches fast Our seconds and minutes don't seem to last We would draw nearer to thee, Oh Lord We would draw nearer to thee

In the days that lie ahead let us be bold May we be shepherds to the sheep of thy fold Keep us and mold us as we grow old Let us see visions more precious the gold We would draw nearer to thee, Oh Lord We would draw nearer to thee

(The following was written in 1977) It was Monday after Easter. The Sunday suit had been replace by our week-day work wear.

All the jelly beans and hollowed-out chocolate bunnies had been devoured by our kids.

Mom began peeling the several different colored Easter eggs. (After all, who ever heard of a kid eating a colored egg. But, ) they still may for good eating, deviled eggs! By the way, is it okay to eat deviled eggs at Easter time?)

As she began her peeling and slicing, Mom was asked very astutely by our three-year-old, Heather, "What are you doing, Mommy?"

She replied, "I 'm making deviled-eggs." Heather replied..."Why don't you make Jesus-eggs."

As long as we and our children shall remain young or at least young in heart, the true spirit of Easter shall continue to abide in our home.

RUTS Like many other Americans, our genealogical appetite was whetted as we viewed the television version of Alex Haley's epic ancestral odyssey. We stated to trace our line back and got as far as our grandfather and suddenly found ourselves to be over our heads in water in a deep rut. (The Atlantic Ocean to be exact, since our grandfather came over here from Wales.) So we decided it might be easier if we wrote on a subject much closer to home...OUR Ruts. Like our ancestral linage, our ruts go back many years. And while we may occasionally venture into a new groove as we plow along, those old ditches we dug so long ago still have a tremendous gravitational pull on our souls. Not all ruts are bad. In fact, they're probably many more good grooves in our lives than bad ones. It's just that the bad ones are often publicized and glamorized more. Often, they are more painful, too. Now faith, hope, love patience, kindness, gentleness... these are just a few of the better ruts we now seek to cultivate for our posterity. For, it is difficult to sow good fruit without good ruts.

GET MOVING One thing really neat about the Bible is that it is always teaching and showing us new ideas concerning eternal truths, often couched in story form.For instance, right now we are reading the marvelous story of the four lepers sitting outside the gate of Samaria (found in the seventh chapter of Second Kings). Here are four lepers, probably with some horrible, physical disfigurations and noted to be spiritually unclean according to the religious laws of the land at that time. They must have been sitting outside the city for several days because they were literally staving to death. In all their misery, they no doubt had engagedin their own little pity party. Suddenly, one of the speaks up and says... "Why sit we here until we die. We will stave if we stay here and will stave if we go back into the city, so we might as well go out and surrender to the Syrian army. If they let us live so much the better; but if they kill us, we would have died anyway." So these four lepers rose to their feet, went out into the Syrian camp and found it totally abandoned, with an abundance of food and treasures galore left behind. Oh, ye that feel leprous and downtrodden, let us not be afraid of our future, instead, let us stand on our feet, and with the Lord's help, get moving and go forward. Go forward with faith and trust in our Lord.

MORGAN PRAYED... Morgan prayed... And the angels yawned (Except for the ones that fainted). And now you know why, if there is a problem at hand that needs some celestial assistance, I usually ask my wife to "pray for me." I have received thousands of blessings in my lifetime. I realize now I could have received all those blessings without sinning. Rats. (Written March 26, 2014)

LET NOTHING DISTURB YOU Do big problems wear you down? How about little ones? Here, forthwith, is some sage advice from Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)... Let nothing disturb you Let nothing alarm you While all things are passing God is unchanging Be patient and you will gain everything. With God in your heart nothing is lacking God alone suffices

PSALM 9:1,2,9 I will praise thee O Lord with my whole heart I will show forth all thy marvelous works I will be glad and rejoice in thee I will sing praise to thy name O most High The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in times of trouble